Plant package



March 14, 1939. M. IMULFORD in AL PLANT PACKAGE Fil e d Feb. 5, 19s? INVENTORS- HARRY 2'. GRAY, 4M0

Mela/v 1?. MuLFOgOQ ATTORNEYS.

Patented Mar. 14, 1939 2,150,453 PLANT PACKAGE};-

Marion R. Mulford and Harry Z. Gray, Lebanon,

Ohio, assignors. to Hewett P. Muiford &' Company,,a' partnership consisting of Hewett P. Mull'ord and Marion R. Mulford, Lebanon, Ohio Application :February 5, 1937, Serial No. 124,196

9 Claims. .(Cl. 4i-,-a7)' This invention relates to a package for plants,

particularly bulbs such as hyacinths, narcissus and the like.

It is an object of our invention to provide a 5 package in which a bulb may be packed and in which the bulb may be shipped to its point of V distribution.

It is another object of our invention to provide such a package which'will protect the bulbirom 1O injury in transit and to provide a package, at

least a portion of which may be used by the purchaser as a flower pot. so that the bulbneedv never be transplanted. e

Other objects of our invention which will be 15 pointed out hereinafter or will appear to one skilled in the art upon reading these specifications, we accomplish by-that construction and arrangement of parts of which we shall now de- I score'lines separating the walls I, 2, 3 and 4 and scribe an exemplary embodiment.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing the blank of Fig. l in its erected condition.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing the article of Fig. 4 in connection with the member shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the flower pot containing a quantity of earth and a bulb.

v Fig. '7 is a view similar to Fig. 6 showing a wrapping of paraflinpaper or the like. 7

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the completed package.

Fig. 9 is a cross sectional view of the complete package along the line 9-9 of Fig.3.

Fig. 10 is a cross sectional view of the completed package along the line l-'I0 of Fig. l3."

Fig. 11 is a plan view of a blank for forming a modification of the pot shown in Fig. 6.

Fig. 12 is a perspective view of'the pot formed with the blank shown in Fig. 11.

Briefly, in the practice ofour invention we provide a plant package for bulbs and the like which is 'formed from three primary parts. i 'We provide a container for holding the plant in its sustaining medium. We providea member within which the above-mentioned container is placed for decorativepurposes, and we provide a member adapted to protect the growing shoots of the bulb.

In Fig. l we, have shown a blank forming four wall members I, 2, 3 and 4, separatedby score lines and adapted, when folded as shown in Fig. 4, to be joined by an adhesive strip 5. Since we desire to form this portion of our container of 90 Reference is now made to the drawing, which shipping or handling.

enhanced.

a somewhat triangular cross'section', we provide the scorelines 6 in the walls land 4, so that these walls may be collapsed-inwardly and permit the upper edges of the walls I and 3 to come together. Articulated to the top of the wall ilis a'flap 1 adapted to close the'opening. At the bottom of the walls 2 and3 we mayprovide flaps 8 and tabs 9, the purpose of which will be described later. Articulated to the bottoms of the walls I and '3 by frangible. lines i011 and lid are the straps l0 and II which are provided withcoop- 'erat'in'g locking means I2 and l3' respectively. One of these straps may be provided'with a slit for a purpose which will be described later.

In either the wall I or 3, we prefer to provide an opening [5 which we have shownto be of oval shape for the sakeof appearance.

As seen in Fig. 4 this blank is folded along the andan articulated locking flap zll'having 'a'tab ZI adapted' to cooperate with 'a'slit 22 in the wall I6. For the sake of. appearance we have formed this blank so that the flower pot portion of the package willhave a tapered appearance,

' :but itis understood that this forms no limitation upon our invention;

By virtue of the position of the lock on the flower pot as above described, the pot will retain its original form in spite of stress or strain in We then assemble the blank of Fig. 3 by folding it along the various score lines and inserting the tab M in the slit, 22a. It is to be noted that by forming the interlockingmeans awayfrom-the corners of this blank the strength thereof is We' then slip this formed up blank which we shall now describe as the flowerv pot cover, up-

war'dlyov'er the lower portion of the blank shown in Fig. 4 so that the package now has the ap-' pearance shown in Fig. 5. It will be noted that the flaps 8 are held within the flower pot cover to presenta finished appearance and that the tabs 9 p rpjfictinwardly over the rim of the flower pot lite-hold the latter down in position.. We

have also provided a locking device to prevent the blank of Fig. 4 from slidingout of engagement with the flower pot cover as the package is. lifted from the top. As maybe seen in Fig. 1 the portions l2 and I3 are made to extend laterally frofi'l thenlower edges of the straps l0 and II, so that when the flower pot cover is slid upwardly the extending portions of the flaps l2 and I 3 will extend beyond the lower edges of the flower pot cover, as may be seen at 12a in Fig. 5.

The package as shown in Fig. 5 is ready for the reception of the flower pot, which will next be described.

In Fig. 6 we have shown an exemplary flower pot 22 made of cardboard or the like and of tapered form to fit within the flower pot cover shown in Fig. 3. Within the flower pot we place a quantity of earth 23 and plant therein a bulb 24. As shown in Fig. 7 we prefer to wrap the flower pot 22 with parafiined paper or the like as indicated at 25. The wrapper 25 will be provided with an opening 26 through which the stem of the bulb may proiecth The completed fiower pot containing the bulb is dropped into the blank of Fig. 5 from above and comes to rest within the flower pot cover at the bottom of the package. In order to cover the opening l5 we have provided a tag 21 as shown in Fig. 2. This tag we prefer to form of cardboard or the like and preferably with an opening 28 similar to the opening I5 and we prefer to cover this opening with Cellophane or a similar material which may have printed upon it a colored reproduction of the particular plant contained in the package. This tag is provided with an articulated flap 29.

To cover the package we collapse the wall members 2 and 4 inwardly on the score lines 6 whereby the upper edges of the walls I and 3 are brought together. We then insert the tag 21 behind the wall 3 so that the Cellophane portion 28a covers the opening l5 and so that the flap 29 is adjacent the wall I. This flap thus serves to close the top of the package and main tain the walls I and 3 together at the top. The flap 'l is then tucked in and the package in its completed condition takes the form shown in Fig. 8 and in the sectional views 9 and ID. The purchaser of the package may remove the cover portion of the package by tearing along the lines I Ila and I I a, -whereuponthat portion of the package which lies above the pot simulating encircling band of Fig. 3 may be removed to provide room for plant growth.

It'is to be understood that different forms of our preferred embodiment may be made without departing from the spirit of our invention. The particular shapes indicated are exemplary and we do not wish to limit ourselves otherwise than as indicated in the claims which -follow.

Having now described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1 A plant package comprising a plant container, an apertured plant shielding element adapted to hold said container, an encircling member adapted to hold said container and element in operative relationship, and an apertured tab adapted to cover the aperture in said element, the aperture in said tab being covered with a transparent material.

.2. A plant package comprising a plant container, an apertured plant shielding element adapted to hold said container, an encircling member adapted to hold said container and ele-- ment in operative relationship, an apertured tab adapted to cover the aperture in said element, the aperture in said tab being covered with a transparent material, and means on said element for locking said member in position.

3. A plant package comprising a plant container, a plant shielding element having portions which pass around said container and interlock to hold said container, and an encircling mem ber adapted to hold said container and element in operative relationship, said shielding element maining sides together, and means for closing the top of said element.

4. A plant package comprising a member to contain a bulb and covering material, a bud shielding element to extend above said containing member and having portions to interlock thereabout,'and a pot simulating encircling band to hold said containing member and element in operative relationship, and means for holding said encircling band in operative-position with respect to said containing member and shielding element. I

5. A plant package comprising a; plant container, an apertured plant shielding element adapted to hold said container, said element being of rectangular cross section and open at the top, opposed sides of said element being collapsed inwardly to bring the tops of the remaining sides together, an encircling member adapted to hold said container and element in operative relationship, an apertured tab adapted to cover the aperture in said element, the aperture in said tab being covered with a transparent material and means on said element for locking said member in position. I

6. A plant package comprising a plant container, a plant shielding element having portions which pass around said container and interlock to hold said container, and a pot simulating encircling band holding said container and element in operative relationship, said element provided with a window through which the condition of the plant may be observed.

7. A plant package comprising a plant container, a plant shielding element having portions passing around said container and interlocking to hold said container, and an encircling member holding said container and element in operative relationship, said member comprising a cut and scored blank and having fastening elements cooperating at a point removed from any score line.

8. A plant package comprising a plant container, a plant shielding element having portions which pass around said container and interlock to hold said container, and an encircling member holding said container and element in operative relationship, said element provided with a window through which thecondition of the plant may be observed, said interlocking portions being connected to said element by frangible lines whereby said shielding element may be torn away from said interlocking portions to permit full plant growth. I

9. A plant package comprising a plant container, a plant shielding element having portions which pass around and interlock about said container, said element having tabs extending inwardly and looking over the rim of said container and a pot simulating encircling band holding said container and element in operative relationship, said element provided with a window through which the condition of the plant may be observed.

HARRY Z. GRAY. MARION R. MULFORD. 

